Cooling system



Ja:i.l6, 1945. c. N 2,367,340

COOLING SYSTEM Filed Feb. 1'7, 1 940 2 Sheets-Shee t '1 v :1 z glENTOR.

' ATTORNEY;

Filed Feb. '17, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2.

FIG. 3.

INVENTOR CARL L. DAUN 'ATTORNEY' Patented Jan. 16, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT emcs oooLnvG svs'rEM Carl L. Daun, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Chill- Quick Corporation, a corporation ofWisconsin Application. February 17 1940, Serial No. 319,438.

2.,Claims.

as beer, although also adapted ioroth'er advane tageous. uses and applications.

One 01? the objects of the. present invention is. to. provide a cooling and refrigerating system oi his character, which is simple and. compact. in construction, highly efficient and noiselessin oporation nd easy and comparatively inexpensive t0, manufacture, and install and maintain.

The present invention proposes .to' combine in the. cooling system one or more tap rods of the character described in my patent for. a Dispensin; device V-2, ,0 8.. Such tap rods are inserted. throug t pbushing in the head of the. beer barrel or keg, and extend down through the beer to 'a'low point in the barrel. orkeg. When the tap rods are constructed as described and claimed in said application, they not only have a passageway therethrough for the beer, but also. have; passageways therein and substantially th oughout their en th through" whi h the rev frigerant is circulated. The. passageways for the refrigerant arev in heat interchanging relation. ith the. eer flowing through its, passageway in. the tap rod, and with the beer. in. the keg or bar-. rel. Due to, dimensional limitations the passage-. ways in the tap rod through which the reirigerant flows are'ne ssari y limited .or restricted.

Another important, object of the invention is to insure irculation of the refrig rant th o h. the r str cted p ssageways through the. tap r d, and.

t accomplish this, such a. way as to. obtain,

a unii rm and hi hly eihcient cooling. action,

. A iurther object, of the invention s, to. s c nut and. organize the. elemen s f the sys em s to. minimize. the frequ ncy of operation of t ooling unit of the-sys em. Mo e speoifical m, the motor-driven compressor and theniotor driven fan. for the cooling coils or condenser of thefcooling unit are not continuously turned on and o l but are. required to operate o ly at. rather id ly spa ed inte vals! O he objects. and. adv ntages reside'in certain novel features of the construction,arrangement, and combination of parts, which will be hereinafter more. fully described and. particularly pointd. ut. in the appended claims reierence bein had. to the acc mpanying dra ings i rrning apa of; tins specifica i n, and. in. which:

Eigure 1. a. diagrammatic v ew elevati n sh w ng, in talla on of. a. cooling and etrie-- erat ns. sy em embodring the; pres nt. invention. adapted for cooling and been;

Figure. 2 is a fragmentary view partly in diagrammatic, vertical section and partly in side .e'levat ion showing the. tap rod of the type adapted for use as an element to assist in, embodying the 6 present invention; and

Figures 3 and 4 are views. in transverse cross section taken on lines 3 3 and 44, respectively,

of. Figure 2.

The installation shown in. the drawings is de signed for cooling beer in and dispensing beer from twokegs, designated at K. and K. Each keg is provided with its own. taprod, designated generallyat T and T, the tap rods having dis pensing spouts or faucets S and S, at. their upper ends. The tap rods T and T are of identical con struction, and areoi the refrigerated type, in. that. they notonly have passage through which the beer flowsto the dispensing faucet or nozzle, but also; have passages therein and therethroughv .for the refrigerant, which is in heat interchanging. relation with the beer being dispensed. and with the beer in the keg. The. specific construction of these tap rods is fully shown and. described and claimed in my application for Method and means for cooling liquids, filed October 8, 1939, Serial No. 299,933, and reference is made to the said. application to supplement the disclosure. of. the -present, case. Asv illustrated in Figures 2, 3, and. 4, however, it will be. seen. that. such a tap rodv 0 is; provided at its lower end with an inlet tip 50, the interior of which communicates with a beer passage 5i formed between the. tubes. 52. and 53. The passages for the refrigerant are designated at54 and 55., the refrigerant passages 54 bein defined not only by the interior of the tubes 52 but also. by suitable wall structure 5.6 in, the body of. the faucetv so that its, passages are in com-.5 munication with the refrigerant. pipe line i5 at, its upper end. The. lower end of, the. passage 54,

'40. connects by means of the cross-over 5.1, with the;

outer refrigerantpassage 55,, which is definedv by the intermediate tube 53 and the outer casingor tube 58 of the tap rod. The upperend oi this outer refrigerant passage. 5,5 is extended through.

the lower ported or hollow portion, 59 of theraucet,

oo it; therethrough for the beer,, nd has has sageways; extending throughv the. rod for sub;-

1 stantiayllg the: iull. length thereof; andv in, heat.

interchanging relation with said beer conduit and that the passageways, due to the small outside diameter of the tap rod and its short length, have a very small total volume in which the refrigerant may vaporize.

The refrigerating system embodying the present invention includes a cooling unit, designated generally at 5, which may have a suitable housing 6 enclosing a compressor 1, driven by an electric motor 8. Also embodied in the cooling unit is a suitable form of condenser which usually takes the form of a cooling coil, diagrammatically shown at 9, and completed by a conventional compressor motor driven cooling fan (not shown) The refrigerant, which may be Freon, or any of the liquids in common use and suitable for the purpose, after being compressed in the compressor and cooled in the cooling coils or condenser, is delivered in liquid form to the tank or receiver I0. From the tank" or receiver ID, a pipe line [2 leads through the conventional heat interchanger 13 to an expansion valve 14 of any suitable construction. A pipe line connects the expansion passageway through the rod faucet S, T connects with a pipe line I6, which, in turn, leads to the inlet side of the refrigerant conduit or passageway through the faucet rod structure S, T.' A pipe line or conduit ll leads from the discharge side of a refrigerating passage or conduit of the faucet rod structure S, T through the other pathway through the heat exchanger l3. Thus the two refrigerated tap rods T and T are connected up in series with the compressor. Due to this connection the refrigerant must flow through both taps. There need be only one expansion valve and regulator valve incorporated in the system. In such a system the warmer barrel will get the full benefit of the heat-absorbing power of the refrigerant. If the tap rods were connected in parallel, the refrigerant would tend to flow only through the rod inserted in the cooler barrel, and hence the warmer barrel would not be cooled. u

The point where the pipe line I! communicates with the heat exchanger [3 corresponds, generally speaking, to the suction side of the evaporator coil of the system. For this reason it is especially constituted in any suitable Way, as diagrammatically illustrated at 20, to receive the thermo bulb 2i connected by means of the capillary tube 22 to the expansion valve 14 in the usual manner. tion of the thermal bulb that it be inserted in the pipe line at 20. It may be clamped in surfaceto-surface contact with the pipe line and still be operative particularly if adjustments are made in the superheat factor of the bulb as. is customarily known to those skilled in the art of refrigeration.

From the heat exchanger l3, that is from the low pressure side thereof, a pipe line 23 leads to a pressure regulator valve 24. The pressure regulator valve 24 is constituted and set to hold the selected pressure and temperature in the cooling system constituted of pipe line I5, faucet S, rod T structure, pipe line 16, faucet 8', rod T structure, pipe line I1, 20, and heat exchanger l3. When the selected pressure is exceeded, the regulator valve 24 automatically opens and allows the refrigerant to flow into a pipe line 25. The pipe line 25 has a branch 26, which leads into a storage or surge tank 21. This pipe line 25 also It is notessential to the operahas a second branch 28, which is again subdivided into two sub-branches, one designated at 29 and one at.30, the sub-branch 29 leading into the compressor 1 and the sub-branch 30 leading into a pressure switch 3| which regulates the operation of the compressor motor 8.

With the construction thus far described, and the pressure regulator 24 set to hold the selected pressure or temperature in the system, as for example a pressure of thirty pounds, the regulator 24 will remain closed and hold this pressure in the system until the selected pressure is exceeded. Thereupon the regulator 24 will open and allow the refrigerant to flow into the pipe line 25, and into the pipe line 26 up into the tank 21. The refrigerant under pressure may also build up in the branch 28 and branches 29 and 30, but does not exert sufficient pressure on switch 3! to cause it to set the motor 8 into operation. However, when the pressure in the tank 21 builds up to a certain predetermined amount, an amount predetermined by the setting of the pressure switch 3!, say for example twenty-five pounds, then the pressure switch 3| sets the motor 8 into operation, and the compressor will be effective to draw the refrigerant from the tank 21, compress it and pass it back through the coolin coils 9 to the tank or receiver I0, from whence it may be recirculated through the system. Once the compressor starts operating under the action of the compressor switch, it will continue to operate until the pressure in the tank is reduced to the value corresponding to that at which the pressure switch 3| is set to cut off.

The gas holder 40, and its flexible connecting lines 4|, 42, and 43, of course, form no part of the cooling system per se, but are only the conventional means for keeping a head of gas on the surface of the beer in the kegs.

A cooling and dispensing system of this character insures circulation of the refrigerant through the passageways of the tap rod and obtains a uniform and highly efficient refrigerating action. Further advantage resides in the fact that the frequency of operation of the cooling unit of the system is minimized, or in other words instead of continuously going on and shutting off, the cooling unit is required to operate only at protracted intervals.

While the invention as shown is applied to a system wherein two tap rods are refrigerated, obviously its advantages may be realized in any system having one or more tap rods. Where only one tap rod is employed, then the pipe line I6 is coupledup with the connection 20 so as to deliver the refrigerant to the heat exchanger I3, and thence to the pressure-regulating valve 24.

While I have shown and described several constructions in which the invention may be advantageously embodied, it is to be understood that the constructions shown have been selected merely for the purpose of illustration or example, and that Various changes in the size, shape, and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A cooling system for a plurality of beverage containers comprising a circulatory refrigerant passage for each container having an inlet and outlet opening, a cooling unit having its compression side connected to an expansion valve and its'suction side connected to a pressure regulating valve, a refrigerant conduit extending from said expansion valve to an inlet opening of one of said passages, a refrigerant conduit extending from said pressure regulator to an outlet tap rod inserted through and held by said bushing, said rods-having a portion extending to a low point within said container, a discharge conduit for said beverage extending through said tap rod, .a refrigerant passage Within said tap rods extending from an inlet opening in said rod above said bushing into said portion and returning up to an outlet opening in said rod above said bushing, a cooling unit having its compression side connected to an expansion valve and its suction side connected to a pressure regulating valve, a refrigerant conduit extending from said expansion valve and permanently connected to an inlet opening of one of said rods, a refrigerant conduit extending from said pressure regulator and permanently connected to an outlet opening of another of said tap rods, and refrigerant carrying connections extending from the outlet opening of said first tap rod to the inlet opening of said other tap rod.

, CARL L. DAUN. 

